Getting the Lead Out

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-condor31jul31.story

Getting the Lead Out

July 31, 2004

There was California Condor 36 again, showing off for tourists this summer along the side of Highway 1 near Big Sur, unruffled as people came within a couple of feet, snapping pictures. Fun for tourists, but an example of why restoring California's flagship endangered species is proving to be such a delicate effort.

<snip>Still, environmentalists and regulators are sacrificing the bigger issue by focusing on Tejon construction. Even ardently anti- development condor experts say the far bigger threat is lead bullets, the same problem that led to the captive breeding program. By eating the remains of hunter kills, condors ingest the lead. Five released condors have died of lead poisoning, according to Bruce Palmer, until recently the coordinator of the condor recovery effort. Lead has been found in two-thirds of the released birds.

<snip>Non-lead bullets for hunting exist, though they're more than twice as expensive. It's a reasonable financial burden for an elective hobby. If hunters can pay for the gasoline to power their SUVs and pickups into hunting territory, they can certainly afford a less toxic bullet.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, instead of bragging about how biologists will scare condors from Tejon construction sites by squirting them with water pistols, could save more birds by banning lead bullets on the federal lands in condor habitat, which includes Los Padres National Forest. The California Fish and Game Commission should be doing the same on relevant state lands. Tejon Ranch CEO Bob Stine says if he could get the two government agencies to commit to such a ban within the next few years, he would take the first step by immediately banning lead bullets on ranch property, a noted commercial hunting ground.<snip>

There will be long, loud debate over Tejon Ranch development. If condors could have some lead-free years before anything is built, their numbers might increase enough that environmentalists wouldn't choke on the notion of allowing accidental killings on construction sites. Then at least the development battle could be about the usual topics, not California's embattled flying goofballs.

In the 1970s lead shot was banned for waterfowl (it is permitted for upland game). Steel shot is what has been used since the 1970s over water (and has produced a marked decline in lead in waterfowl).

For rifles, most bullets are steel enclosed lead. Compared to the shot in a shotgun round, the lead in such a bullet is much much smaller (please note I am talking about the amount of lead in a Shotgun ROUND not the lead in each piece of shot. No one just uses one piece of shot, you shoot a load of shot, it is the total of the lead fired from a Shotgun I am comparing to a rifle bullet).

Now if the gamed killed by a hunter (and the hunter is unable to recover the game) if it is "small game" (i.e. Rabbit, Bird etc) than it might have been hit by a shotgun. Large game would have been hit with a rifle round (and rifles are used on rabbits and larger animals including deer).

My point here is what are the Condors eating? And where? While Hunters do shoot at animals and sometime the animal gets away from the hunter to die someplace else, the numbers are to low to be the cause of the lead in the Condors (Most small game that die this way are eaten by other predators i.e Coyotes Crows, Vultures etc). Condors do eat such small animals but tend to eat larger game (Deer etc). As to large game you will have generally only one bullet in the animal, with many condors and Vultures eating at the body. I jut do not see the inadvertent consumption of lead shot and bullets to be the cause of the lead contamination.

Another interesting fact was in the article it is mentioned that Condors like to pick up shinny items and swallow them (Probably to be used in their Gizzards in place of Stones). It is probably this practice that the lead gets into the Condors. The issue is where are their picking up these lead pieces? I do see the Condors picking up such lead pieces but where? Where are their getting the lead from? Remember leaded gasoline was permitted till the 1980s and much of the Freeway system in Southern California predates that time period. Could he lead be from eating animals contaminated from the Highways?

Lets look at each o the possible source for the lead;

1. Nature, if Nature why did Condors survive till the end of the 20th Century? Not a good explanation, but lead does occur naturally and is a dull but shinny metal so may to a causation.

2. Shot and Bullets from eating animals, most hunters pick up their own kills and clean them themselves, thus very little is left for a raccoon, crow or Vulture let alone a condors. I just do not see the source of the lead being from wounded animals escaping from a human hunter and than dieing and being eaten by a Condor.

3. Lead accumulates in the body and gets higher and higher as you go up the food chain. If animals are absorbing lead from old the remains of the use of leaded gasoline and than the Condors are eating such animals the lead would be explained. The solution to this problem is to decontaminate the areas around the Freeway system of Southern California (a very expensive proposal).

4. Lead from shotting ranges? Why would a Condor go to a Shooting range? All you hear is guns going off, but it could be a source of lead and the Condors could be going to such ranges just to pick up lead shot for use in their gizzards. Not a good explanation for in most shooting ranges the bullets end up buried deep under ground, but I include it to be as inclusive as I can.

5. Lead from the various Military bases in the area including artillery impact areas AND shooting ranges on such bases.

USGS on the Condors:
http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/noframe/b162.htm

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/te_species/index/classification/birdslist/condor.html

Here is an Article that give the attribution of lead to hunters, but than say no reports have been shown of Condors eating hunter shot animals:
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2003/06/15/news/wyoming/c4fedf9932bbd625a59f486f1cf80eaa.txt

The actual Report:
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/info/bm_research/bm_pdfrpts/2003_02.pdf

The report indicates that it looks like lead from bullets mostly because the lead amounts tend to go up in the fall (Hunting Season). There may be other explanations (i.e. increase training at the Military bases do to cooler temperature, or do to increase rains in the fall lead residue from the previous use of leaded gasoline may come leach into the environment and then up the food chain to the Condor).

Personally a ban on lead shot in the areas of the Condor would be a good thing, it would eliminate at least one of the possible causes for the lead poisoning (And steel Shot has been around since the 1970s and used succesfully since that time period, it is NOT as good as shot as lead shot but it has bene effective). If a ban on Lead shot is found to be ineffective it will force people to look at the other solutions (Including removing the old leaded gasoline residue).

Rifle Bullets will be a harder things to push. Most hunters use Soft points (which contain lead) and such expanding bullets are required in most states. Designing a non-lead soft point (or Hollow point) would do the trick, but given the report I lean that just a ban on lead shot should suffice, at least to show whether the lead is from hunters or from some other source.